Stories of Interest
This page is devoted to widely known stories across the world of Maawoa. "The Gods Anger" The tensions between the Kai and the Ordene have been growing out of control. The Kai have begun to over harvest the forests near them to support a large population boom. They began to strip harvest certain areas, completely removing entire spans of forest in the process. Even with the efforts of replanting the forests, the damage to Ordenes homes are increasing and becoming more and more threatening. With an effort to maintain peace, the Ordene have gone through all the political channels of the United Council to attempt to reach an agreement with the Kai to halt their “attack” on their homes. They’ve unfortunately been met with unapologetic responses from the Kai with them stating that there’s nothing that could be done and they must build housing for their kind in order to accommodate their increasing population. It’s taken years for the tension to boil over, years of continuation of the strip harvesting, years of arguments and failed political maneuvers. The Acquilans have not assisted in the matter, preferring to stay neutral to the tensions as they have an ulterior motive. This motive has been hoping the Kai and the Ordene tensions would devolve into an all out war. There is always profit to be made in war and they’ve positioned themselves to be dealing to both sides of the war for a tidy profit for their economy. It’s only taken a single act of violence from the Ordene to break the tension. One single act and countless deaths. The Breaking Point A small rebellion took place within the Ordene society. A group urged for war, an unlikely situation that the Ordene themselves could not pacify as they attempted a more peaceful avenue to resolve the conflict. The inner struggle was not a revolution or a coup. This inner struggle spurred the group to make the first strike. With their specialties of plants and herbs, they knew what they were going to do to solve the “population boom” of the Kai It was a suicide mission, to venture out in the dry lands, the heart of the Kai’s city and the largest population hub. Only heading in with the essentials they needed to make the one way trip. Under the cover of night they struck, poisoning the major water supplies of the city with a incredibly lethal concoction. The resulting strike left thousands of innocent Kai dead. It was done in the name of preserving the homes of every Ordene for the future. That this was their final warning on behalf of the Odrene species. Kai’s response to the situation was equally as lethal. An all out attack on the closes city of the Ordene. This attack was done without warning and without mercy. The Kai razed the entire city and surrounding forests to the ground. The Third Party The attacks enraged both sides of the conflict. There was no recourse now, it was all out war. The United Council was dissolved as the two races engaged in an all out war. The Acquilans quietly sat back, watching the war to commence, deploying emissaries to either side with “Gifts of future business”. Being the most technologically advanced race, they had the necessities to produce armament that easily rivaled the technology that the Kai and Ordene could develop. Embroiled in their war both the Ordene and the Kai were blind to the intentions of the Acquilans. They had no idea how greedy the Acquilans grew with their power and influence and that they ultimately had the hand in letting this conflict progress to where it is now. Stratagems The strategy of warfare between the two races are completely different and quite drastic from one another. Each race employing tactics that prove to make the war an interesting battlefield. The Kai focuses on main battle confrontations. Large battalions of troops hitting head on with the Ordene. They try to draw the forces of the Ordene out of the forests in open plains and fields where they do not have a distinct advantage over the combat. The tactics employed to lure them out often results in them setting wildfires to the forests that the Ordene are occupying. The Kai are often found at a disadvantage in more temperate climates and within forests. This is where the Ordene excel. Living and growing up in the forests they are quicker in navigating them and are able to utilize the trees and plant life. They are capable of easily blending in with their environment with advance camouflaging. This development spurred on the guerilla type of warfare the Ordene adopted. The Ordene do not excel into direct combat but in tactics that involves ambushing and terrorizing enemy troops and their supply lines. They attempt to constantly demoralize the Kai by striking when least expecting and often times, at night, when it’s harder for them to be detected. Because both races employ completely different tactics in military conquests, they often give and take land quick frequently. The Ordene primarily taking land through surprise attacks and hitting the Kai where they don’t expect it and the Kai gaining land by full frontal assaults. Each tactic ensures a certain level of victory, despite the costs of lives it causes. Kahaku, Sister of Ordene Kahaku was always a little off growing up near The Tower of Ordene . It’s the center of the dead wood and usually everyone is working for the betterment of the the sisters. This was not the case for young Kahaku, she saw herself as an outcast and felt she did fit in with everyone else. This has been breeding a sense of being lost and alone in the world with no life stories or tales she could be proud of. Having these feeling made the intellectual Acquilan a prime target for Kahaku. The Acquilan wear the family history on them as unique markings on their bodies passed on and changed through generations. Having these markings and flaunting their unique stories and body markings off for the world to see has made the young sister Kahaku jealous and hateful. Having these obvious stories and as she sees it and exciting life being portrayed is something she has been longing for her entire life. Setting out from her hollowed out mother tree, Kahaku goes searching for something to make her feel whole like she never has. She travels far and wide in search for stories or tales to make her happy. Not finding anything after a few years of searching Kahaku gives up on her search and finds a nice tree that she can call home it is close to the water but not far from the forest, away from her own race. After a few years living alone and doing whatever she wants in life things start to get boring again. Kahaku starts to get anxious and angry again that she has no good tales of her life and nothing good to tell. In the midst of a real down time for her she goes for a night time stroll looking for some food near the shore when she sees a wounded Acquilan crawling from the forest back into the water. Being of a race that is naturally helpful, Kahaku rushed over to check on the dying moonchild, just to realize that the creature has already passed away. This sparked something truly indescribable in the young sister. She had a feeling of wonder and amazement having access to the Acquilan body she studied the markings on the moonchild’s body creating her own stories from the markings, all this did was make her thirsty for more. Not knowing why she was feeling this way but knowing she wanted more, Kahaku went out in search of more wounded moonchildren just wanting to study the markings on them uninhibited. While searching for more she was not having very good luck, finding maybe two a month, searching all up and down the coast line. She wanted more, she needed more she had a strong urge to learn more and to collect the stories of dead Acquilan peoples. This grew increasingly difficult because the Acquilan people started scouting the area after the disappearances of their people. Usually Acquilan send their dead out to sea to sink to the bottom of the ocean, so not having the bodies of the dead made them upset and off put on why they couldn’t find these bodies. This naturally caused some fright and wonder as this mystery continued to happen with no trace of why or where exactly this was happening. The fact that the Acquilan went looking for them excited Kahaku an incredible amount, so much in fact that she started getting a little more dangerous and daring with her acts. Instead of hiding from the moonchildren scouts she would leave the decomposed bodies of the dead out on the shores with all of the markings cut off and carved out of course. This caused trouble for Kahaku making her have to move around more and stay on her toes to avoid detection by all of the new Acquilan people being sent into the forest trying to solve this mystery and look for more bodies. Having to move so much made moving all the tanned skins from the Acquilan difficult to transport. To get around this she started making big sewn together sheets of skinned markings and transporting them around the jungle that way. Eventually even this became too stagnate a life style for the young sister and she needed something new. She started scouting out and spying on the Acquilan as they came into her forest. Kahaku was spying for particularly elaborate or beautiful markings she would like in her collection. She would stop at no ends in order to get more skins and more life stories she can adopt as her own. Adventure Hooks This could be a mystery story that a playable Acquilan can choose to solve and finding this slippery sister is the end of the story line. When you find the dead tree that the sister is living in the PC’s find hundreds of skinned moonchild bodies along with sheets of their markings strewn about and the particularly beautiful markings are made into tapestries hung about the house or into clothing that Kahaku would wear.